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Everything posted by Gorth
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I'm genuinely curious, is it as bad as it seems from the outside? https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230525-how-book-banning-escalated-in-the-us It's very hard not to draw parallels to another time and another place. You guys who live there would know better (I hope), so is it just DeSantis working on spreading his vision of a new American "Paradise" to a federal level, or is it just a small group of very vocal regressive forces in the country, stirring up things Edit: I.e. is it a problem or just a few shrill voices making enough noise that international media uses it for click bait and site hits
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Background, 95 old woman waved a steak knife at the police (she was using a walking frame, so it's not like she was going to run after the cop with the knife). While he didn't shoot to kill, he tasered her. Now she's dead. She collapsed and hit her head on the way down. A bad case of "overkill" (poor choice of words, I know). https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-65696475 For me, an obvious case of using the wrong tool for the job, as is often the case where police is the "default" go to solution whenever somebody somewhere has a problem. Same thing when dealing with people with mental issues. Police are often a blunt tool applied to a fragile object (the few specialists working for the force not withstanding).
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Dang it, I need to dust off my Lich run again. Got sidetracked by table top wargaming (yeah, that real life stuff involving playing with real, live people ) I had just finished building a nice ziggurat, exploring the basement, but no obscene rituals taking place down there (yet)
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I'm not a fan of just dropping a Youtube link and a here you go, bye kind of post... there are lots of videos out there now about the war and it can be a bit hard to filter the interesting ones from the 117th iteration of a subject covered exactly the same by 116 previous videos. This one caught my interest when I watched it, because it's a guy collecting info (no not "doxxing", but trying to create a profile of the mindset of Russian soldiers) from social media posts. Very interesting (and sad) IMHO. He shows a number of different examples...
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What are you Playing Now? - Games don't make you violent, lag does
Gorth replied to Wormerine's topic in Computer and Console
I played Borderlands 2 on repeat for years. Mostly coop with 2 friends. It was just awesome. Did some of the "raid bosses" too in the DLC. Some very nice, challenging fights for a little group. I think I got stuck in whatstsname OP3? I tried OP4 several times, but in the end I just couldn't be bothered to go through it again, just for the sake of leveling all the enemies up on a future play through. The Prequel was our preferred game after BL2. BL1 was Ok and BL3 was... I still never made it past level 2 on a character. After spending so much time with the characters in BL2 and the best villain I've ever met (Handsome Jack), the writing and characters in BL3 fell more flat on it's nose than a wet noodle on a Teflon plate. -
I'd argue that sometimes any publicity is good publicity and stirring up a ****storm sometimes create even more interest for whatever they wanted to see buried. I.e. shooting yourself in the foot (regardless of intentions, good or bad).
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Last step before the fully automated "Robocop"?
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Maybe the time is just running out for rock and pop stars living in 56 room mansions at the beach? Hollywood actors too for that matter. The medieval scribes probably felt it the same way when Gutenberg came along and their livelihood slowly disappeared over the years. The printing press didn't have the artistry of a scribes calligraphy, but it was cheaper and made texts available to the masses. Lamplighters, Switchboard operators... professions come and go.
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Yeah, no more Samantha Fox on page whatsitsname You mentioned Metallica, which is a bit ironical. The one time I finally spend many hundred dollars on tickets in Melbourne, they cancelled it (4 weeks before the concert) because Hetfield had to go back to rehab... Most of the live performances I've seen down here has indeed been established names (The Killers, Incubus, etc.). One band I'd love to see live is Rammstein. Last time they visited Madison Square Garden in the US, they sold out in 20 minutes and broke their website. This has been a pattern then last 10+ years for them... they go on world stadium tours and the stadiums are typically sold out in 10-20 minutes (and those tickets are NOT cheap). I.e. pretty hopeless to get tickets unless you're fast. Their Youtube videos... a few dozen official videos with between 50m-500m views each. No idea what they make from Youtube, but probably a few dollars. But, they are old. Not Rolling Stones old, but in their late fifties/early sixties by now. The last music I bought was the Chtulhu Christmas Carols boxed set... which again was a few years after I bought the Conan soundtrack. Probably 10+ years ago. I've been spoiled by the ease of finding a song on Youtube rather than the old "concept album" idea, where you either start programming your player or listen to all songs sequentially they way the producer intended.
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No idea who put together this list. Maybe the best female black actors just aren't "celebrities" (Halle Berry was the only name I recognized too)? Plenty of outstanding male counter parts though, that also achieved fame. E.g. Samuel L. Jackson, Danny Glover, etc. Edit: How could I forget James Earl Jones aka "Thulsa Doom"???
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I think there are two religious holidays in Australia, Christmas and Easter. Then there is the secular stuff like the Melbourne Cup Horse racing (Victoria only), The Kings Birthday (this one was funny last year, because of the timing of her passing away), Labour Day for us hardworking blue collar developers and Anzac day where people get up at 5am and eat cookies. Oh and here in Brisbane we have The Ekka (an annual agricultural show day, not a statewide holiday, just a public holiday for people living in the greater Brisbane are). Australia day where we celebrate seizing the land from the Aborigines and try to kill them off. There are a bit mixed feelings about the latter holiday, so it might change in the future to become a more inclusive day on another date, suitable for all Australians, both old and new. South Australia has an Adelaide Cup day (similar to Victorias Melbourne Cup), Tasmania has a holiday called "Eight Hour Day" (no, I have no clue), Western Australia has nothing interesting and no idea about the territories (NT and ACT).
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After a bit of a break, I found a new series to watch. It's not completed yet, so just like Mieruko-chan it may come back and bit me when I wait for more episodes Anyway, a series called Jigokuraku ("Hells Paradise"). Only seen first two episodes. Lots of gore and chopping of heads. Set in a pseudo feudal Japan, ruled by a Shogun and people lose their heads faster than Russians fall out of windows. The protagonist was raised a someones pet killer-for-hire, working for the local towns leader. Getting married to a woman he doesn't realize he loves, he ends up getting ostracized and sentenced to death. Dying is a bit tricky for him, because he realizes a few seconds before finally dying, that he still has something live for. An emissary from the Shogun is searching around for people sentenced to death, who will undertake a risky mission for him to a newly discovered land, rumoured to be in possession of an elixir of immortality, something the Shogun would like to get his hand on. A few dozen convicts are assembled in the Shoguns courtyard and he tells the gathered convicts, that they are too many (and for his own amusement, arranges an impromptu "battle royale", leaving 10 survivors, who will travel by boat to the island. 10 armed "executioners" accompanies them, to make sure they don't get funny ideas. Episode 2 ends with the protagonist having flashbacks to his wife and what in retrospect was something good in his life, that he didn't appreciate when they still were together.
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The F16 were good planes (I'm old enough to remember a lot of controversy around their acquisition). No noticeable accidents and they've seen a bit of actions too, participating in Ex-Yugoslavia, Libya and Iraq (sitting it out in Afghanistan iirc, that mostly infantry and AFV combat) The Danish government also decided to send 100 slightly older Leopard 1 (probably still a lot better than the Russian Sardine Cans) as well as a handful Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Denmark is known for it's effective recycling policies. Suddenly raising the retirement age for military hardware Edit: Luckily the Nordic countries have decided on a "unified command" when it comes to their airforces (not at least because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine), so the Swedish airforce can cover Danish airspace because the Danish airforce always seems to be eager to fight everywhere else but in the Danish airspace... https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2023/03/24/nordic-countries-move-toward-linking-their-air-forces-250-planes/
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Never say never...
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That's a long distance away to smash it with a wrench!
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Ooh... Kraken Black Rum... any Kraken Black Rum
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I currently have a bottle of Absolute Vodka in the cupboard. I'm not a big vodka drinker, but it's Ok for mixing with orange juice or whatever. Ironically, there is one vodka I really do like (just like Roku Gin is the one gin I really like as is) and that is a domestic product made in South Australia (St. Agnes Silver). Sadly it's impossible to get outside South Australia unless you order it online and have it shipped to you. The St. Agnes distillery also makes a Brandy that is as good as any good Cognac. Same deal though, you have to pay for shipping to get it . Not so much an issue for the Brandy, when you pay close to $1000 AUD for a 40y old Brandy, the shipping is trivial
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Sometimes Games Workshop release "freebies" on Youtube to advertise their subscription channel. No, not going to subscribe, but some of them are pretty good quality (considering many of those started as fan made projects that either got cease and desists or got bought outright from their creators)